Cleaning Up is an ITV drama that has seen a resurgence in popularity since being added to Netflix in the UK, and it has got some viewers questioning if it is based on a true story.

Starring Sheridan Smith the programme originally aired on TV back in 2019 and has managed to capture the interests of Netflix viewers, with it becoming the most-watched show on the platform last week.

It follows a single mother called Sam Cook (Smith) who works as a cleaner in the offices of the financial company Kramer Lowe.

She's facing a number of issues including having a gambling addiction, being in debt and facing a battle with her ex-husband to get full custody of their two daughters.

After overhearing a stockbroker who is being blackmailed into insider trading, she decides to get involved to try and turn her life around.

Is Cleaning Up on Netflix based on a true story?

Cleaning Up is not based on a true story, although writer Mark Marlow was inspired by a moment from a classic 1980s film on illicit trading.

Speaking to Digital Spy he said: "I was searching for an idea and I was lying on the sofa one day where I was watching Wall Street with my wife Holly and there was a scene where Charlie Sheen has been given the task of finding some inside information by Gordon Gekko.

"And, in this scene, he breaks into an office, he rifles through a filing cabinet, he finds some inside information.

"I just happened to notice in the background there was some cleaners. And I just instantly thought, 'If they work in that office, surrounded by inside information, why couldn't they just do that?'"

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Sheridan Smith also revealed that she did work with real cleaners as preparation for her acting on the show.

She explained: "We had lessons. So, no I'm not really [a pro]. I'm a bit better because it's dab instead of wipe."

Cleaning Up is available to watch on Netflix in the UK right now.